More Vintage Menko Cards (part two)

 

And now, the conclusion of the treasure trove of vintage menko cards that I recently acquired.  This first group has the same manufacturer (and backing style) that our entire last post had, except these cards are super-thick, which you'd expect from menko cards. Right off the bat, we see Gamera, Godzilla, and Gappa...although I have to admit I am stumped on the bird-headed hero in a couple of the cards, and I haven't been able to discern his identity, so please leave a comment and let me know! Oh, don't miss GOLDAR from SPACE GIANTS sneaking into the bottom row! This is an all-star group for sure.

And here are the card backs!

This next group is super cool, beginning with King Ghidorah, and moving on to Bemular and Antlar from the first year of ULTRAMAN, and finally, a very cool Mechagodzilla, who apparently has sunk the Titanic.  The lizard at the end of the top row would make an awesome album cover.

All of these cards are super thick, too, but apparently have different manufacturers.  All menko cards seem to incorporate Rock/Paper/Scissors, but some even feature playing cards on their backs.  The ones at bottom left seem to want you to draw your own artwork in the space provided--which seems like a missed opportunity--while the last group actually features SPECTREMAN of all things!

Lastly, we return to some old friends, and even the "umbrella yokai," which was a surprise.  The "Godzilla vs. UFOs" card is awesome, and the Ghidorah card at bottom left is not a repeat, because this time the art is overprinted with metallic gold ink, which unfortunately doesn't show up in the scan very well.  The back is completely different, too.  I was going to say something about Ultraman fighting Godzilla again, when I finally realized the other monster was Daigoro from DAIGORO vs. GOLIATH! Holy crap! Next we have an awesome, almost tribal Ghidorah image, then a card obviously based on ULTRA Q, and finally, our bird-headed friend again.

Here are the backs, which are much more varied than earlier styles we have seen.  The "TV" ones are pretty funny (note Zorro in the upper-left....Zorro?) Also note the military hardware--early menko cards were heavy on this sort of thing, before tokusatsu and kaiju films gave them a higher calling and true purpose for their artwork.  

I hope you have enjoyed looking at these awesome cards. As you can tell, I love these things.  The kaiju-based ones don't come up very often anymore, so you have to wait for a good deal.  But, they are out there.